850 The next day, on 4 February, Mr Llewellyn then began working on what has been described as a "paper edit" of the proposed programme and highlighted the parts of the transcript that he thought were the most important (Llewellyn (at [243]–[244]); Ex R220). Mr Meakin worked with Mr Llewellyn and reviewed a Google Document that had been created and made changes to it (Meakin (at [56])). His involvement was not superficial, and in an email (Ex R385) he noted:
I did notice a small point about Linda Reynolds' reaction.
Brittany says her initial words were kind and supportive, but a moment later we're told she was uncomfortable with her; is there any explanation of the change of heart?
851 This prescient comment pointed to an apparent inconsistency, but Mr Llewellyn then responded by not engaging with the substance of the inconsistency but retorting that if one views the footage: "… I reckon once you see the way [Brittany] says all this stuff, you'll have a far better idea of the feel and the shifts in tone" (Ex R387).
852 Others such as Ms Binnie, Ms Smithies and Mr Farley were involved and the Project team spent several days, and possibly up to a week, on the paper edit (Meakin (at [58])), with Ms Wilkinson being provided with the paper edit on 10 February for review (Llewellyn (at [296]); Ex R493).
853 A good indication of Ms Wilkinson's mindset at around this time is provided by an email of 11 February sent to the other members of the Project team in which she expressed her view that it was important not to let Mr Finkelstein, the Prime Minister's Principal Private Secretary "off the hook", for having "checked in" with Ms Higgins at the time of the 2020 Four Corners programme being aired. Ms Wilkinson's view, which from her evidence at trial is one from which she has never departed, is that "it's not just the rape itself that is horrifying, it's the systemic coverup" (Ex R584).
854 The same day as Ms Wilkinson expressed this forceful view to the Project team, one of the recipients of the email, Mr Christopher Bendall, had become acting Executive Producer of The Project, having previously been a "co-EP" (with Mr Campbell as his superior). He was later appointed to the role in March (Bendall (at [22], [28]–[29])). As such, he was ultimately responsible for the production of everything that goes to air, including by providing the final "sign-off" and ensuring compliance with requirements relating to rights of reply, fact-checking and legal processes (Bendall (at [30])). He was not involved in the preparation of
